"Clip Clop Clip Clop" Their hoofsteps echoed in the palace as they walked, accompanied by the slight clank with each of the Creature's as it followed them, head forward. Cadance sighed and turned into the dining room, The Creature following curiously. Shining closed and sealed the door behind them, watching the creature's every move. Cadence sat down at the head and watched it. It looked at the small chair and scoffed before pushing it away and sitting cross legged on the ground, table barely reaching up to its chest. It looked at her and mimed eating. She nodded and looked at a fearful maid. The maid left and she looked at the creature. She started up her magic and started creating symbols, which he pointed at for an answer. First, she learned he was male. Then he could read, write, and do math. She paused as food was rolled in, by a maid, who was shivering as she was regarded by the golden figure and the two rulers. The cart carried typical vegan foods, such as vegetables, fruits, and of course, hay. She swallowed fearfully as the Golden Lion reached towards the cart. When he accidentally bumped the cart she bolted screaming out of the room, slamming the door behind her. He shrugged and began examining the food on the cart, as Shining and Cadence grabbed their respective meals. He chuckled gently when he came to the hay, and decided on the apples. They watched aptly as he lifted it up and began examining it, the apple easily fitting into his palm. He looked down at the table, then reached out and picked up one of the tiny knives. They tensed up, they slowly relaxed as he lifted the knife to the Apple and began carving out the core. "Interesting...it appears he has not only class, but finesse. Hmm...someone of importance maybe? But he's a warrior..." Cadence muttered quietly as she took a bite of her salad. Shining nodded slowly, still watching him, his fork hovering in midair with a piece of a pancake on the end. After carving the whole core out, the Lion placed the it on an empty plate on the table. He reached up and slowly cracked open his helm, revealing pale skin and a mouth. He ate the apple whole, closing his helm and chewing it thoroughly. After several seconds he swallowed, and nodded gratefully before taking a second. Cadence smiled and resumed showing him letters.

Ornstein began carving his second Apple, watching the tiny ponies. The female had once again started showing him the letters, to establish a means of communication. He shook his head for each letter, his red plume swaying gently each time. He placed the second core on the table, and had looked up as the most recent letter faded away. He blinked and jolted, accidentally breaking parts of the table off with his knee. After several seconds of awkward silence, he swallowed and signed for her to go back. She nodded and brought the letter back, and he exclaimed in eagerness. The letter was the 'E' of his language in Lordran, and he nodded to her that it was right. She...clapped? Clopped? Clopped, her hooves together and began writing him a message again, and he smiled a little as he saw some of his letters appear, but still didn't understand others. "..ell...M...ame...s...Cade..ce." He nodded slowly, looking the letters over, then shook his head. However, he held up his hand to her and looked around, then reached down and grabbed a piece of wood he had broken off earlier with his knee. Using the small knife, he began to scratch in his own letters.

They both sat there patiently, watching the large figure scratch into what used to be part of their expensive mahogany table. Eventually he nodded after looking it over and held it out for her. She gently lifted it from his golden gauntlet with her magic, bringing it close as he returned to how he was previously sitting. The message seemed to be written in mostly Norwhinnygian, as well as containing several other letters from other languages. "We could not fully understand thine message, so we hope thou wilt understand ours. We are Sir Ornstein, Knight to Gwyn, Lord of Cynder. We know not how we arrived here, just that we art grateful for thine assistance and care." She blinked and grinned wide, then rose slowly. She bowed to Ornstein, writing her own message for him in the air as she did so.

"Well met, brave knight Ornstein. We are Princess Mia Amore a Cadenza, ruler of the Crystal Empire. We are honored to have you here in our halls." Ornstein read the message, then slowly rose from the table. He slowly knelt onto one knee, placing his hand over his heart and bowing his head. The light shining through the glass windows fell onto his figure, bathing his golden armor and giving it a spectacular and regal shine. His spear was held gently in his hands, yet firmly, in a way that spoke of his commitment to his cause. As Cadence looked up at him, she couldn't help but admire him in awe for several seconds, until he slowly rose his head up. They held each other's gaze for several seconds, before Ornstein shifted his eyes to the window. They widened under his helm and he leapt at the couple. As they began to open their mouths and exclaim, the light from the window was blocked out by a heavy shadow. He curled around the two of them and rolled away just as a massive axe came crashing through the wall, flattening where the two of them were just standing and turning it to rubble.

Shining and Cadence gazed at Ornstein, watching him raise his head. As he leapt they yelled and dove close, and were carried as Ornstein rolled them away. He skidded to a stop and let go of them, standing in front of them. They both looked forward in shock and fear, gazing at the behemoth that had smashed through the wall. It had two large hooves, each easily as large as they were. They went up to hairy, muscular legs each as tall as Ornstein, a bulky chest, two massive arms, to the face of a monster. It's head was akin to the skull of a bull; pale and hard. Two dark, angry eyes stared down at the group, before it let loose a roar and lifted its axe from the shards of glass and rock. It's axe was malformed, made entirely of bone, stained with the blood of past prey. Ornstein stepped in front of the two and cracked his neck gently, the light from the sun outside bathing the giant and the colossus as they prepared to trade blows.

Cadence swallowed and grabbed her husband, pulling him backwards. "Shining, we need to leave, now." He looked at her and nodded. They began galloping away, heading for the large doors to the room. The demon shifted its eyes and roared, leaping at the two. Ornstein jumped as well, tackling the demon onto the table mid jump. He quickly rolled off and grabbed his spear as the bull roared and swung his axe at him. He swung his spear and deflected the blow, making it smash into the ground next to his foot. The bull roared again and lifted its axe again, swinging at him. He dodged backwards towards the shattered wall, not throwing any return strikes. The bull roared and leapt at him, and he rolled forward, the bull smashing into the ground outside. He smirked and quickly pivoted, running at it. As it stood up he jumped and kicked it in the back, sending it forward with a snarl of anger. It span and swung at Ornstein, making him raise his spear. He blocked the blow, skidding across the grass and digging up a trail. He pulled himself out and ran back at the demon, as it charged him. He raised his spear and jumped, then came crashing down. The bull looked up just in time to receive a spear in its eye, howling in pain. Ornstein held on as blood gushed from its skull, it thrashing around and swinging its axe in a rampage. It grabbed Ornstein and threw him off and into a crystal, shattering it from the impact. He stood up slowly, holding a large shard of the crystal in his hands. The bull groan and whimpered, holding its head as more blood pooled onto the ground. It's remaining eye searched around, shifting around erratically until it found him. It went red from rage and the demon roared, charging at Ornstein full speed. He walked forward a little, turning his body slightly to the side and waiting. The bull charged even faster, solely focusing on grinding him into paste. Ornstein narrowed his eyes, then dodged right when the bull was going to crush him. He reached outward and grabbed his imbedded spear, swinging himself onto its body. It howled in pain and began thrashing around, but he clung hard to its back. Gripping it tightly, he raised the crystal and began slashing at its neck, eliciting howl after howl of pain, painting the colorful grass in blood. After several cuts, he raised the blade of crystal, which had broken off in places, leaving it a jagged knife. He impaled it into the neck of the demon as hard as he could, going through and piercing out the front. It's eyes rolled up as it gargled, choking on its own blood, before it finally collapsed onto the ground.

Shining and Cadence had ran to an upper balcony of the castle, watching the fight play out. As it raged on, they both threw up multiple times in disgust, watching their beloved home become desecrated in blood. After the final blow, the sickened couple flew down, and began walking over slowly, straying away from the blood stained ground. They watched as their visitor slowly rose from the corpse, and gripped his spear. He pulled it out slowly, the body squelching gently as its tip tugged at the flesh of the beast. He slowly turned towards them and they swallowed in fear, seeing his golden armor soaked in blood, dripping out of the spaces between each part, and his eyes...his eyes burned with such a flame, a fire so fierce, and so horrifyingly loyal to its cause that they knew that no one....no one...stood a chance against this golden giant, named Ornstein.

Cadence and Ornstein sat in her study in the upper floors of the crystal palace. She had a crystal desk, which glowed gently with the help of the light from the glass doors leading out to a balcony. Outside, they could hear the sounds of Shining Armor and his men sanctioning off the battleground and trying to dispose of the corpse. There were several bookshelves along the walls, which Cadence was pulling several tomes from with her magic. Her hair was slightly droopy, and her eyes still held the horror from seeing the fight earlier. Ornstein was watching her gently, his armor back to its golden glow. It had taken him several minutes to finally clean the blood off of himself. His spear rested against the wall, and Cadence threw more than one glance in its direction. She returned to sifting through yet another spellbook, muttering gently as she read each spell. She was looking for a spell she had seen before, one that apparently Celestia had used to communicate with visitors from other lands when she first went overseas. She tossed that book away again and pulled out the next, sifting through its pages. She paused on a marked page and began reading, and exclaimed gently. "Finally! Now let's see..." She continued reading, then nodded slowly and looked up at Ornstein. She conjured up another message for him. "Sir Ornstein, we wouldst like to cast a spell upon thee. We believe it may allow us to communicate verbally." He looked at the letters and read them, nodding and bracing himself. Cadence swallowed and rose onto her legs, unfurling her wings.

Ornstein watched her read, listening to the sounds outside. He was a little surprised, but understood that these simple ponies had never seen such a battle. But in Lordran such feats of blood were common among Gwyn's Knights. He heard her neigh gently and looked down at her, his red plume flowing slightly. He read her message, then nodded and prepared himself and closed his eyes. He heard her wings unfurl, and heard her began making several noises. He felt a subtle probing in the back of his mind, almost as if it was someone knocking. He slowly opened the door for them, and began thinking of his language. The probe began sifting through these slowly, feeling over the different pieces of information. Ornstein let it, relaxing and watching it slowly. It began to examine info faster, mover quicker between his thoughts. It reached a memory and began pressing at it. Remembering what had happened when they had seen him slay the demon he jerked his head, severing the link. He hissed faintly in pain, Cadence doing the same. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She was wiggling her lips and grunting, clearing her throat slightly. What happened next surprised Ornstein, which was a little hard to do.

"He...He...llo...m-my...na-ame...is...Cadence." She said slowly, the words tasting strange to her equine tongue. Ornstein jolted gently, then swallowed and bowed his head.

"Hello Princess Cadenza. We are Sir Ornstein. We are honored to meet you." Cadence smiled and bowed to him, relaxing her wings and sitting back down. "We know not how we came to thine land...but from what just happened...we can say...there will be more." As he looked back up at her, Cadences face fell, and a crack in the Badlands grew larger

Author's Note

I'm back everyone! I finally got into writing again! And, hopefully, my writing has had a large improvement. I'll keep trying to write more frequently, and I hope you enjoy what I post. And again, comments are much appreciated.